Look, writer's block. Yeah, excuses, excuses, but I'm not even kidding. My mind has been totally blank with fanfiction, and I'm fighting back now, so hopefully more updates…

A few minutes after Ana was engulfed by the darkness of the jungle, she heard the last thing she'd expect to hear.

"Wait!"

Ana turned, eyebrows raised. Why would Shannon, Shannon, be running after her through the path through the jungle? And she was running, it looked as if she had hesitated a bit at Sawyer's tent as Ana hurried off into the jungle, and then took off after her.

Shannon clutched her side for a moment where the bullet scar was, then realized what she was doing and stopped, glancing apologetically at Ana.

"What?" Ana said, but forced some kindness into it, not her normal questioning 'what?'

"Wh-why do you need a gun?" Shannon asked. Ana raised her eyebrows even more. That couldn't have been the reason she had chased after her. Shannon made a motion to keep walking and they both fell in step beside each other, not looking each other in the eye.

"Why do I need a gun?" Ana repeated, not knowing how to react to that. She would have to lie, of course. "You hear about that guy in the hatch?"

Ana told the truth. She didn't know why, she was thinking about lying, but she told Shannon the truth. "Yeah. What about him?"

"He tried to kill me this morning," Ana said calmly, the truth spilling out of her and there was no way she could stop it. Shannon stopped in her tracks, causing Ana to freeze a few feet ahead.

"And-and why do you need a gun, then?" Shannon reiterated. This time she stared Ana straight in the eye, who looked somewhat abashed and turned away. "Don't."

"Don't what?" Ana said, the bitterness reappearing in her voice.

"You know what," Shannon said with an equal amount of bitterness. Their eyes met with fire and they glared at each other in silence for a few seconds.

"Give me one good reason," Ana muttered, once again averting her eyes.

"You'll be taking his life," Shannon said. They both knew that they were thinking the same thing.

"And?" Ana asked, to which Shannon was surprised. After their conversation before, Shannon thought that Ana was very kind and humane, but that tone of voice…that ruthlessness, that blood-thirsty, merciless tone of voice made her subconsciously step back.

"And-and you'll regret it," Shannon said, hoping she sounded braver than she really was.

"What makes you think that?" Ana said, thinking back to that time where she killed the man who shot her. Shannon hadn't wanted revenge. She only got a bad attitude. Nothing so insane. Ana shook her head, trying to free her mind of the thoughts, and failed.

"You regretted shooting me," Shannon said, and her hand shook slightly. She knew that she had reached the subject that they were unable to avoid, the subject that they were both rather touchy on, but for some reason…Shannon looked more embarrassed than Ana.

"I-So?" Ana said, trying to straighten herself up and look like she didn't care what Shannon was saying, but she didn't fool anyone.

"So it's gonna happen again," Shannon said as if it were so obvious.

"No," Ana said, her voice shaking as she spoke with genuine defiance this time. "No! This time's different."

"How so?" Shannon replied coolly. It was almost like she was arguing with Boone again-so determined to win, so sure that she was right. Tears formed quickly at the thought of her step-brother but she wiped them away, but not fast enough so that Ana wouldn't catch her. She looked surprised.

It took her a while to realize she had to respond to something. "Because this time I'm going to finish him," Ana said confidently, and stared in the direction of the hatch, wanting to march over there and prove to Shannon that she could kill Henry. But her feet seemed glued to the spot.

"So why didn't you finish me?" Shannon said, wondering what exactly she meant by that. "If you think that because you actually kill him, you won't feel any regret, than why didn't you kill me too?"

Ana thought about a conversation she and Sayid had almost right after Shannon was shot

Flashback

"Will she be okay?" Ana asked as Sayid emerged from the tent where a few people were working on helping Shannon. She would have gone in herself, but Shannon had awoken and screamed at her to get out.

"Like you care," Sayid hissed with loathing.

Ana bit back tears, not quite for the girl in the tent, but for the hatred that she deserved. She unhooked the knife from her belt and dropped it at Sayid's feet, who froze and looked form the knife to Ana in confusion.

"I deserve it," Ana said quietly.

Sayid continued looking back and forth from the knife to Ana. "What good would it be to kill you if we're both already dead?"

End of Flashback

Shannon looked taken aback at Ana's response. "You-you know about Boone."

"I didn't know his name," Ana said, not knowing what else to say. No one said anything for a few minutes, both lost in their own memories. "I'm sorry."

"What if that guy-?"

"Henry," Ana interrupted, knowing exactly who 'that guy' was.

"Henry," Shannon repeated. "What if Henry has a sister?" Ana said nothing. "You say sorry to me because of my brother's death. Would you feel sorry then for his family?"

Once again Ana was quiet. Her hand trembled as she dropped the gun on the ground at Shannon's feet. She was still thinking about her and Sayid's conversation, and she repeated another phrase, this time one of her own. "Go ahead. I deserve it."

Shannon immediately bent down and picked up the gun, turning it over a few times. She had believed at one time that Locke was responsible for Boone's death. She herself wanted revenge-but she was stopped. And that's the real reason Shannon was out here talking to Ana now.

Now was the perfect moment for revenge, was it not? Not only would she avenge herself, but she could finally take out the anger that she had carried since the death of her step-brother.

But now it was Shannon's turn to repeat something, repeat what Ana had repeated just minutes ago. "What good would it be to kill you if we're both already dead?"

And turning around simultaneously towards the beach, Ana and Shannon walked side-by-side away from the hatch, and away from Henry Gale.

Another short chapter then, but I'm proud of it. I enjoyed writing it more than any other chapter.